Lessons from The Last Lecture
“Engineering isn’t about perfect solutions; it’s about doing the best you can with limited resources”
“When there’s an elephant in the room, introduce it”
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity”
“The brick walls are there for a reason. They’re not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something”
On Time:
Time Management: “Time must be explicitly managed, like money” Ask yourself, are you worrying and spending time on the right things? Delegate - show people how they can do things without you.
Self Reflection is our only way to measure if we are doing better or worse. Schedule time to do this. Develop the ability to assess yourself.
“Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier”
Get people’s attention: Make it visual (VCR sledgehammer)
Tell your kids specific idiosyncratic ways in which you relate to them - “I love the way you tilted back your head when you laughed”
You can’t fulfill your dreams alone.
You can’t measure the power of customer service. Sprint vs. Apple
“Treat the disease. Not the symptom”
“Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others”
Dealing with Failure:
“It’s not just whether your win or lose, it’s how you play the cliche”
“Glorious failure” team that took the biggest gamble in trying new ideas and technology. Celebrate out of the box thinking and imagination. “First Penguin winners were losers who were definitely going somewhere”
“Optimism is a mental state that can enable you to do tangible things to improve your physical state”
“I don’t think we ever said to each other: “This isn’t fair.” We just kept going. We recognized that there were things we could do that might help the outcome in positive ways…and we did them. Without saying it in words, our attitude was, “Let’s saddle up and ride.”“
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted”
On Dealing With People:
“If you dispense your own wisdom, others often dismiss it; if you offer wisdom from a third party, it seems less arrogant and more acceptable”
“Apologies are not pass/fail” Three parts: 1) What I did was wrong 2) I feel badly that I hurt you 3) How do I make this better?
Write handwritten thank you notes/send thin mints
Focus on the bigger picture:
“Automobiles are there to get you from point A to point B. They are utilitarian devices, not expressions of social status.” “Dented cars became a statement in our marriage - not everything needs to be fixed”
“When you use money to fight poverty, it can be of great value, but too often, you’re working at the margins. When you’re putting people on the moon, you’re inspiring all of us to achieve the maximum of human potential, which is how our greatest problems will eventually be solved”
“Not telling Mom made everything we did into a pirate adventure. Even the mundane could feel magical”
Women In Tech in NYC
Great Betabeat article about the women making strides in New York’s Silicon Alley.
Find a Cofounder
Yesterday I met with the founder of a social advertising company in San Francisco. She is a really fun person - totally energetic, enthusiastic and more than willing to give advice. As an ex-googler, she understood the entrepreneurial spirit I have been “raised” with.
Since I have been working on a presentation and mocks of my own, I asked her about how much she would want to see done before raising capital. Her simple advice was, “Don’t spend too much time on the business model. Set aside the next two months and find a cofounder.”
While I’ve heard this advice before, it has really been hard to find that perfect person. It’s like a marriage - it is imperative that you find the perfect match. On top of finding a cofounder, I actually need to find something even more specific - a female cofounder.
A female tech cofounder? That’s pretty much the hardest thing to find.
The reason it is so important to find one is because female cofounders:
- Tend to be better managers
- Understand the problems of other females (i.e. shopping)
- Don’t run the risk of having an affair with each other
The last one I thought was particularly funny but she’s right. You spend 15 hours together a day, there’s bound to be some tension with the opposite sex. I don’t think this should be a major point of concern but it’s definitely something I would consider.
The main reason I believe a female cofounder would be beneficial is because she would just “get it.” When I explained my problem with online shopping, this woman just got it - she immediately picked up on the information gap and I found that I didn’t have to defend my idea. In the last few months, whenever I have pitched to a male, I found myself defending and working hard to prove that women actually shop in a certain way. After being in the ecommerce business for 3 years now, I have more than just data - I have user behavior, retailer sentiment and market insight to back up my assumptions. It was refreshing to have a woman listen to my pitch and completely understands.
So, off to my next couple months of networking.
Life is Progress
Life is progress. It takes time to love who you are, love someone else and love life. There’s no need to rush. This is life…. it’s messy, difficult and emotionally draining but it’s so worth living the short time we have and making the most of it…. be true to yourself and know that this life is yours to live, and yours alone.. and don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise
Every time you want to make any important decision, there are two possible courses of action. You can look at the array of choices that present themselves, pick the best available option and try to make it fit. Or, you can do what the true entrepreneur does: Figure out the best conceivable option and then make it available.
--And that, folks, is what makes entrepreneurship so friggin’ hard. And so friggin’ necessary.
(Source: http)
